Tables and Figures

Figure 1: Total number of words

Figure 2: Topic Clouds

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Figure 3: Histograms

Panel A: Dispersion of agencies per topic

Panel B: Dispersion of Topics per firm-year

\[Topic\_Dispersion_{Firm,Year} = 1 - \sum_{Topic} P^2_{Firm,Topic,year}\]

Panel C: Dispersion of Agencies per Firm-year

\[RegulationDispersion_{firm,year} = 1- \sum_{Topic} \sum_{Agency}P_{Firm,Topic,year} \cdot \omega_{Topic,Agency,year}^2 = 1 - \sum_{Topic} P_{Firm,Topic,year} \cdot HHI_{Topic,Agency}\]

Figure 4: Time Trend

Panel A: 12 Industries

Panel B: FF12 == 1

Figure 5: \(\Delta\) Regulation Dispersion

## *Panel B: Topics with biggest change around 2016 presidential election*

Figure 6: A case study

Table 1:

Table 2: Verification

All variables are normalized

	company_FR.frag_norm	agencies_10K.frag_norm
Regulation Dispersion	0.047**	0.002
	(0.022)	(0.009)
Topic Dispersion	-0.062**	0.134***
	(0.025)	(0.017)
Regulation Complexity	-0.061	-0.076***
	(0.038)	(0.017)
Log(Word,10K)	0.026	0.300***
	(0.018)	(0.009)
Nsegments	0.014**	-0.002
	(0.007)	(0.004)
PPE/AT	-0.023	-0.020**
	(0.030)	(0.010)
EBITDA/AT	-0.064***	-0.003
	(0.019)	(0.004)
Log(Sale)	0.275***	0.064***
	(0.038)	(0.013)
Tobin's Q	0.002	-0.005
	(0.012)	(0.004)
Num.Obs.	14592	60534
R2	0.628	0.772

Table 3: Descriptive statistics

Table 4: SGA_AT, TFP, ROA next year

All variables are normalized

	1.lead.sga_at_norm	2.lead.tfp_norm	3.lead.roa_norm	4.lead.sga_at_norm	5.lead.tfp_norm	6.lead.roa_norm
Regulation Dispersion	0.043***	-0.036**	-0.059***	0.055***	-0.032*	-0.053***
	(0.015)	(0.016)	(0.013)	(0.014)	(0.018)	(0.015)
Topic Dispersion	0.044**	-0.030	-0.012	0.046**	-0.037**	-0.009
	(0.017)	(0.020)	(0.021)	(0.019)	(0.018)	(0.018)
Regulation Complexity	0.021	0.004	0.025	0.034	0.005	0.038*
	(0.020)	(0.019)	(0.028)	(0.026)	(0.021)	(0.019)
Log(Word,10K)	-0.015	-0.019	-0.135***	-0.015	-0.021*	-0.131***
	(0.009)	(0.012)	(0.032)	(0.011)	(0.012)	(0.031)
Nsegments	0.000	0.004	-0.009**	0.003	0.000	-0.008**
	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.003)	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.004)
PPE/AT	0.071**	-0.239***	-0.080***	0.068**	-0.254***	-0.076***
	(0.028)	(0.041)	(0.020)	(0.030)	(0.037)	(0.026)
EBITDA/AT	-0.022**	0.371***	0.339***	-0.023**	0.385***	0.336***
	(0.010)	(0.025)	(0.030)	(0.010)	(0.026)	(0.031)
Log(Sale)	-0.303***	0.376***	0.336***	-0.318***	0.362***	0.332***
	(0.047)	(0.039)	(0.037)	(0.050)	(0.041)	(0.039)
Tobin's Q	0.107***	0.204***	-0.055***	0.111***	0.209***	-0.054***
	(0.010)	(0.017)	(0.011)	(0.008)	(0.020)	(0.009)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	38922	60534
R2	0.867	0.719	0.637	0.872	0.730	0.653
R2 Adj.	0.848	0.676	0.584	0.850	0.679	0.593
RMSE	0.36	0.53	0.60	0.36	0.52	0.59
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year				X	X	X
FE: year	X	X	X

Table 5: Sales growth, assets growth, emp next year

All variables are normalized

	1.lead.growth_norm	2.lead.growth.at_norm	3.lead.emp_at_norm	4.lead.growth_norm	5.lead.growth.at_norm	6.lead.emp_at_norm
Regulation Dispersion	-0.099***	-0.143***	0.001	-0.110***	-0.139***	0.012**
	(0.017)	(0.024)	(0.015)	(0.022)	(0.027)	(0.006)
Topic Dispersion	-0.012	0.022	0.015	0.003	0.030	0.004
	(0.021)	(0.018)	(0.012)	(0.019)	(0.020)	(0.012)
Regulation Complexity	-0.145***	-0.201***	0.032**	-0.155***	-0.195***	0.014
	(0.042)	(0.034)	(0.016)	(0.037)	(0.034)	(0.015)
Log(Word,10K)	0.076***	0.099***	-0.021*	0.068***	0.090***	-0.020*
	(0.023)	(0.017)	(0.012)	(0.022)	(0.019)	(0.010)
Nsegments	0.002	-0.005	-0.003	-0.003	-0.009	-0.002
	(0.005)	(0.005)	(0.004)	(0.004)	(0.006)	(0.003)
PPE/AT	-0.089***	-0.210***	0.068***	-0.069**	-0.194***	0.073***
	(0.023)	(0.040)	(0.017)	(0.031)	(0.052)	(0.020)
EBITDA/AT	-0.003	0.054***	0.027***	-0.009	0.049***	0.023***
	(0.030)	(0.014)	(0.007)	(0.029)	(0.015)	(0.007)
Log(Sale)	0.559***	0.477***	-0.034	0.583***	0.487***	-0.033
	(0.051)	(0.043)	(0.025)	(0.053)	(0.045)	(0.024)
Tobin's Q	0.047***	-0.048***	0.029***	0.044***	-0.049***	0.031***
	(0.009)	(0.012)	(0.006)	(0.010)	(0.012)	(0.006)
Num.Obs.	60534	60534	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.363	0.277	0.919	0.399	0.305	0.923
R2 Adj.	0.270	0.171	0.907	0.296	0.185	0.910
RMSE	0.80	0.85	0.29	0.78	0.83	0.28
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year				X	X	X
FE: year	X	X	X

Table 6: Fedreg Segments

All variables are normalized

Panel A1 Notices

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_Notice_norm	0.045**	-0.066***	0.019	-0.105***	-0.127***	0.011
	(0.020)	(0.021)	(0.015)	(0.023)	(0.026)	(0.009)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.399	0.304	0.923

Panel A2 Rules

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_Rule_norm	0.050***	0.001	-0.095***	-0.074***	-0.093***	0.012**
	(0.012)	(0.014)	(0.015)	(0.019)	(0.021)	(0.005)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.654	0.399	0.305	0.923

Panel B1 RIN

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_RIN_norm	0.069***	-0.015	-0.120***	-0.088***	-0.122***	0.004
	(0.014)	(0.012)	(0.017)	(0.023)	(0.021)	(0.009)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.654	0.399	0.305	0.923

Panel B2 Old RIN

	sga	tfp	roa	growth	growth_at	emp
regul.disp_old_RIN_norm	0.040***	-0.005	-0.068***	-0.065***	-0.090***	0.014***
	(0.011)	(0.013)	(0.016)	(0.019)	(0.020)	(0.005)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.399	0.305	0.923

Table 7: Subsamples

All variables are normalized

Panel A

Model 1 keeps observations in the same icode-500 HP industry code. Model 2 keeps observations with the same number of segments, Model 3 keep observations with the change in total assets below 20%

	SGA|ind	SGA|seg	SGA|size	TFP|ind	TFP|seg	TFP|size	Grwoth|ind	Growth|seg	Growth|size
regul.disp_norm	0.041**	0.041**	0.034**	-0.033**	-0.038**	-0.030*	-0.100***	-0.100***	-0.056***
	(0.017)	(0.016)	(0.014)	(0.016)	(0.016)	(0.017)	(0.018)	(0.017)	(0.014)
Num.Obs.	54259	56444	44207	34473	35755	28785	54259	56444	44207
R2	0.874	0.870	0.904	0.725	0.722	0.746	0.383	0.376	0.400

Table 8: Industry Composition

All variables are normalized

	lead.n_ipo_norm	lead.n_join_norm	lead.n_left_norm	lead.n_peers_norm
regul.disp_norm	-0.049***	-0.024*	0.026**	-0.035***
	(0.013)	(0.014)	(0.011)	(0.008)
Num.Obs.	60534	60534	56364	60534
R2	0.786	0.604	0.119	0.915

Table 9 Coauthored Topics

	lead.sga_at_norm	lead.tfp_norm	lead.roa_norm	lead.growth_norm	lead.growth.at_norm	lead.emp_at_norm
regul.disp_norm	0.060***	-0.033	-0.062***	-0.111***	-0.153***	0.022***
	(0.014)	(0.020)	(0.017)	(0.026)	(0.027)	(0.007)
coauthored	0.014	-0.023	-0.021	-0.011	-0.027	-0.011
	(0.009)	(0.017)	(0.015)	(0.017)	(0.027)	(0.007)
regul.disp_norm × coauthored	-0.014**	0.008	0.019	0.006	0.038**	-0.019***
	(0.006)	(0.011)	(0.014)	(0.019)	(0.015)	(0.007)
Num.Obs.	60534	38922	60534	60534	60534	60534
R2	0.872	0.730	0.653	0.400	0.306	0.923

Table 10 Lobby next year

All variables are normalized

Dependent variable: log of (1 + lobby expenses next year).

• Average of lobby expenses next year = 749775.2 dollars

• Average of log 1 + lobby expenses next year = 7.694036 dollars

• standard deviation of log 1 + lobby expenses next year = 6.29541 dollars

	1.lead.log_lobby_norm	2.lead.lobby_norm	3.lead.log_lobby_norm	4.lead.lobby_norm
Regulation Dispersion	-0.106***	-0.091***	-0.102**	-0.080**
	(0.032)	(0.031)	(0.038)	(0.030)
Topic Dispersion	-0.033	0.007	-0.056	-0.025
	(0.050)	(0.033)	(0.051)	(0.029)
Regulation Complexity	-0.048	-0.057	-0.067	-0.093*
	(0.062)	(0.060)	(0.066)	(0.055)
Log(Word,10K)	0.071**	0.031	0.045	0.015
	(0.034)	(0.030)	(0.033)	(0.033)
Nsegments	0.005	0.015*	0.004	0.014
	(0.011)	(0.009)	(0.012)	(0.010)
PPE/AT	0.006	0.001	-0.014	0.004
	(0.034)	(0.024)	(0.038)	(0.030)
EBITDA/AT	-0.026**	-0.031***	-0.012	-0.026***
	(0.012)	(0.007)	(0.015)	(0.009)
Log(Sale)	0.324***	0.224***	0.333***	0.215***
	(0.076)	(0.053)	(0.083)	(0.068)
Tobin's Q	-0.005	-0.002	-0.013	-0.010
	(0.013)	(0.008)	(0.014)	(0.007)
Num.Obs.	14983	14983	14983	14983
R2	0.611	0.874	0.649	0.887
R2 Adj.	0.559	0.857	0.570	0.862
RMSE	0.62	0.36	0.59	0.34
Std.Errors	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48	by: FF48
FE: FF48	X	X	X	X
FE: cik	X	X	X	X
FE: FF48_year			X	X
FE: year	X	X

Table 11

	1 Unexpected Promotion	2 Unexpected Promotion
Words_Notice	0.615**
	(0.234)
Words_Rule		0.440*
		(0.253)
Words_Notice × Words_hightopic	−0.170*
	(0.098)
Words_Rule × Words_hightopic		−0.334**
		(0.159)
Words_hightopic	−0.026	−0.061
	(0.052)	(0.068)
Num.Obs.	932	932
R2	0.712	0.706
R2 Adj.	0.680	0.674
RMSE	0.66	0.66
Std.Errors	by: year	by: year
FE: year	X	X
FE: agysub_full	X	X